Elections: Akinola wants Muslims, Christians to close ranks

THE Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Dawud Akinola, has advised Muslims and Christians in the country to live together in peace and worship God with clean hearts, describing good behaviour, love, peace and harmony as the hallmarks godliness.

Alhaji Akinola gave the advice at an inter-religious conference for the promotion of peace and unity between Muslims and Christians as they go into the general election, which he hosted at his Agodi, Ibadan GRA residence.

He stated that Nigerian Muslims and Christians had lived together without incidents for ages until politics and religion were recently allowed to constitute a wedge between them.

According to the Muslim leader, since virtually every family, especially in the South West, parades a mixture of the adherents of the two major faiths, it will be appropriate for Nigerians to always practise their religions with respect and regard for the spiritual sensibilities of one another.

In an address, the Head of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, Professor Khamil Kojeyo Oloso, wondered why Muslims and Christians who were from the “same father” could be at loggerheads with one another.

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Professor Oloso, who is also the chairman of the Aare Musulumi-in-Council, said if everyone could obey the commandments of Allah regarding doing good at all times and competing over virtuousness with one another, there would be peace among the people of the different faiths.

The chairman of the Ibadan Muslims Community, Chief Adebayo Oyero, stressed the need for parents and community elders to instill the values of tolerance in youths, saying religion should be an instrument of unity and not separation.

Delivering a lecture entitled “Peaceful Coexistence and Societal Harmony,” the Secretary General of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Oyo State chapter, Canon (Dr) Segun Babatunde, said Muslims and Christians could not be in accord without understanding one another.

According to him, for the whole world to experience peace, every religion must be ready to sacrifice for the other and for harmony to exist, “we must be ready to move from isolation to integration, from observation to participation and from reaction to interaction.”

Dr Babatunde, therefore, warned preachers from both faiths to tailor their messages towards realising the “much elusive” peace and harmony.

In his contribution, the founder of Shafaudeen in Islam Worldwide, Professor Sabitu Olagoke, said true worship of God could only be achieved in an environment of love.

The cleric urged Muslims and Christians to stop unnecessary rivalry and emulate Prophets Muhammad and Jesus Christ, both of whom, he said, were sent by God as healing and mercy to the world.

The conference was attended by chieftains and members of CAN and the Muslim community in Ibadan and Oyo State at large, as well as the Iya Adinni of Yorubaland, Alhaja  Sekinat Adekola, the Iyalaje Adinni of Yorubaland, Alhaja Sidikat Aderibigbe and Imams and Alfas from across Oyo State.